Manufacturers & Schools Challenge
Launch event
At Pipex px
14th July 2015
Steve Gerry
Plymouth Manufacturers’
Group
Who are we?
The Plymouth Manufacturers'
Group or 'PMG' was formed in
1977.
As the name suggests, its a
network for manufacturers in the
Plymouth area.
Who are we?
We have over sixty members
employing thirteen thousand
people across a diverse range of
businesses from large inward
investors to small private firms.
Who are we?
Plymouth’s manufacturing
sector adds £0.75bn to the local
economy annually.
Equal to 16% of the total –
compared with 10% nationally.
Who are we?
One in eight people are
employed in manufacturing &
engineering in Plymouth. That’s
the highest concentration of any
City in the South of England.
Manufacturing in context
Source – Centre for Cities Outlook 2015
What’s the
opportunity?
For Plymouth's secondary schools
to work more closely with local
manufacturers (and vice versa).
Manufacturing & engineering
provide rewarding career
opportunities.
What’s the
Problem?
Our sector suffers from negative
perceptions:
• "Its only for boys"
• "Its difficult - too much maths"
• "Low status - an engineer is anyone
that fixes things:
• A car mechanic or a boiler repair
person
• "Its dirty"
What’s the
Problem?
'There is a lot more to what these
companies do than oil, grease and
engines type stuff'.
Neill Scott
Skills Support Adviser at
Ridgeway School
The STEM/Engineering Challenge
• Only 19% of girls who achieved an A* in GCSE physics go
on to study the subject at A-level. The figure for boys is
better, but still under 50%.
• CBI survey evidence from 2013 suggested that among
businesses seeking employees with STEM skills and
knowledge, 39% faced difficulties recruiting those staff at
some level.
• 87,000 graduate level engineers are needed each year
between now and 2020, but the higher education system
is currently only producing 46,000, which suggests that
there is a long way to go to fill this potential skills gap.
What’s on offer?
Working with local schools and
colleges, we aim to make the
following four-part offer to
participants …
Part One:
• We will be offering a ‘special
relationship’ between industry and
education.
• A twinning agreement that will help
cement bonds between individual
schools and manufacturers.
• At the very least it will provide touch
points between both parties so that each
will know who to contact.
• It will also open opportunities for site
visits; careers talks and much more
besides.
Part Two:
• We will offer a week’s work experience
for a teacher or a careers adviser – per
participating school.
• This will help open the individual’s eyes
to what manufacturing and engineering
is really all about in the 21st Century.
• We see this as being pivotal to the
project as a whole.
• Providing a lasting legacy for all the
countless pupils they come into contact
with in the future.
Part Two continued:
Although it’s a relatively novel concept it’s
not unheard of. Two Plymouth schools are
currently participating in a Teacher
Industrial Partner Scheme or ‘TIPS’ scheme
run by IMechE.
It’s worth reading a quote from a teacher
who has attended their work placement.
Part Two continued:
“I'm ashamed, now, to admit that if a
student had come to me proposing that
they have a career in manufacturing, and
why would they, as it’s not a career pathway
we actively promote, I would have done my
upmost to dissuade them.
Part Two continued:
"After all why would anyone want to so
spend their days on a dirty factory floor,
doing the same mundane task over and
over?
I don't know where I acquired that mental
image from, but it was there and in reality
it's probably there in the imagination of
many other teachers too, if they’ve thought
about it all.
Part Two continued:
"If industry partners need us, as teachers,
to persuade our youngsters into their jobs,
then they need to tackle these
misconceptions that teachers hold."
After working in a variety of departments
she summed up her day of welding and
additive manufacturing: “It was quite simply
stunning! And something that I want my
students to be aware of and to experience.”
Part Three:
We will make a cash donation of up to £750
to each participating school as a
contribution towards the cost of supply
cover while your teacher is with one of our
firms.
Part Four:
Last but not least, we will give every
participating school a chance to try out, free
of charge for one whole term, a cutting edge
3D additive layer printer.
At the end of this initiative we will raffle the
printers off to three lucky schools that will
become their permanent owners.
In addition:
A supporting marketing package worth
£40k – a brief is being prepared by the SW
Local Authorities.
What do schools have to do to join up?
Complete the simple expression of interest
form and email it through to the PMG.
A maximum of 18 secondary schools will be
eligible to register as fully funded
participants. If necessary, schools will be
selected on a competitive basis.
At the same time, PMG members will be
nominating their points of contact.
What do we expect from schools in return?
• Commit to having a positive open mind to
careers opportunities for their pupils within the
manufacturing & engineering sector.
• A desire to foster good relations with your
employer partner and to seek to maximise the
benefit in so doing.
• We would like to discuss with you, your choice of
the member of staff who is nominated to go
forward for the week’s work experience.
• We are generally interested in how career’s
advice is offered to pupils within schools and
how we might be able to assist.
What do we expect from schools in return?
• We’re also interested in the uptake of STEM
subjects The issue of gender imbalance in STEM
subjects
• We would expect you to help promote
apprenticeships as an option post-secondary
studies
• We are supportive of intermediary parties (such
as the Engineering Development Trust and
STEMnet) who act in both our interests (schools
and employers) and we would expect you to be
too.
• Keep data to help monitor the success of the
project.
What do we expect from employers?
• We fully expect our members to recognise the
importance of developing good relations with
local schools.
• Several employers will already be working closely
with schools and we want that situation to
become the norm rather than necessarily the
exception.
• We expect employers to provide an easy point of
contact for schools and also for intermediary
bodies who operate between the worlds of
education and work (as previous).
What do we expect from employers?
• We don’t expect particular school/employer
relations to be exclusive to either party.
Employers may well work with more than one
school and vice versa.
• What we do expect is a willingness to assist with
school activities – maybe to attend careers
evenings or to give a talk on some aspect of the
business within a lesson. We would also expect
employers to offer occasional site visits.
• We expect in-kind contributions (such as your
time) rather than necessarily financial ones.
• Keep data to help monitor the success of the
project.
How will schools and firms be linked?
• There are no hard and fast rules planned. The
PMG Office will manage the process. We will
generally look to twin firms and schools that are
in relatively close proximity to each other –
because that make’s sense.
• But there might be other reasons for particular
twinning arrangement such as members of the
school’s governing body being employees of a
given firm etc.
• Either party can make the first move.
How has this opportunity come about?
• Individual manufacturers are committed to
investing a lot of time and effort into this
initiative to make it a real, long-lasting success.
• However, we couldn’t have done it without the
benefit of funding provided through the Plymouth
& Peninsula City Deal which has helped to kickstart the programme. City Deal personnel will be
monitoring the success of the project as keenly
as we shall.
http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/citydeal
What are the project timescales?
• The project will commence in the Autumn and
will run until March 2017.
• Manufacturers and schools will be twinned ASAP
and will be free to develop relations.
• Teacher work experience weeks will be
coordinated through the PMG office as will 3D
printer loan arrangements. For practical reasons
these will be staged throughout the project’s
lifetime – i.e. over the next 18 months.
Manufacturers & Schools Challenge
Launch event
At Pipex px
14th July 2015
Steve Gerry
Plymouth Manufacturers’
Group
Manufacturing in context – Locally/regionally
Employs between circa 13k
The SW peninsula Devon, Cornwall & Somerset
employs 80k in manufacturing
Contributes almost double that of the tourism
sector (£4.1bn v £2.3bn)